Tag Archives: parenting

Here’s a story that should make your head spin: Officials at an elementary school in N.J. say the best way to ensure young children steer clear of drugs is to make them afraid of being randomly drug tested:

A proposal to conduct random drug tests of young students in one New Jersey town is raising some eyebrows.

Students at Belvidere Elementary School could be adding drug testing to their list of lessons when they move into middle school.

The Board of Education will vote Wednesday on a plan to randomly test sixth, seventh and eighth graders to see if they are under the influence of drugs. School administrators said they were confident the proposal would pass.

Elementary School Principal Sandra Szabocsik said school officials want to use the testing “as a deterrent.”

“We’re hoping that the students if they’re at say a party or someone’s house or just hanging out somewhere, that they’ll say ‘I don’t want to get involved in drinking or using any drug because tomorrow could be a drug testing day,'” she told CBS 2′s Christine Sloan.

The program is voluntary and both parents and students must consent. School officials said it was important to note that if a student tested positive, they would not be suspended or have the results sent to the police.

Instead, those students would get counseling or even be referred to a rehab facility …

Michelle Malkin just released her “Big Nannies of the Year” list and Reason.tv recently held its annual red carpet ‘awards gala.’ Find out who made the cut and let us know if a notorious nanny state nincompoop has been overlooked.

Just another shining example of nanny state bureaucrats telling parents how to raise their own children ... and, using the long arm of the law to force them to comply.

A police officer in Utah recently cited the mother of a kindergartner with “misdemeanor child neglect” because she allows him to walk to and from school without adult supervision. Nevermind the fact that bureaucrats’ recent spending cuts eliminated bus service for five-year-old Noah Talbot.

Rosella Talbot, a mother of six, said Noah is typically accompanied on his morning walk to school by one of his older brothers. Noah’s kindergarten class lets out early, but he has been provided by his mother with strict instructions that they practiced together for walking alone and wears a bright orange safety vest to ensure his visibility at intersections.

When a police officer recently witnessed one of the rare instances of Noah walking to school alone, he was put in the back of the squad car and driven back home to his mother.

Talbot said she informed the police officer about the safety routine she taught Noah and how she “rode a bike with her son the mile-long distance from school for more than two weeks, showing him the best route to take and the obstacles to avoid,” but was still issued a citation for “misdemeanor child neglect” because the officer did not agree with her parenting decision.

“I am not a neglectful parent, thank you very much,” she told the Deseret News. “I have just done everything I could possibly do.”

The South Jordan School District, by law, does not provide bus service for students who live less than a mile and a half from their school. A budget shortfall this year forced bureaucrats to eliminate so-called “hazardous routes,” leaving countless youngsters to navigate these dangerous streets on their own or with adult supervision, if available.

“These are some serious charges. … I can’t be a Girl Scout leader,” Talbot said. “I can’t work at a day care … I am just so frustrated.”

Talbot’s attorney is expected to enter a not guilty plea during a hearing on Jan. 5.

Agree or disagree with the police officer citing Rosella Talbot with misdemeanor child neglect because he doesn’t agree with her parenting decision? Contact Police Chief Lindsay Shepherd and let him know how you feel.

"The Grinch that Stole Christmas isn't just a book and movie," says Brannon. "In many public schools, Christmas as we know it has been eradicated; erased – gone – eliminated."

When a public school district in Maine informed parents last month that “West African chants” would replace traditional ‘holiday’ songs during its annual “Winter General Music Festival,” one concerned father felt compelled to steal Christmas back from the Grinch.

According to Matthew Brannon, Maine School Administrative District #75 (MSAD 75) recently revised its ‘Holiday Policy‘ with the intent to promote “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” As a result, he says, the school board has “marginalize[d] our values.”

In an urgent effort to inform fellow parents “about what the [G]rinchs in our school system are doing to steal Christmas from our children – and to do something about it,” Brannon launched StolenChristmas.org. “Their policy requires diversity. To them that means every culture except American,” he says.

Thanks to Brannon’s wrestling with district administrators, ‘Jingle Bells’ was sung by children during the recent ‘music festival,’ but he noted that it was “such a last minute addition it never made it into the printed program. The kids had spent weeks practicing their African chants.”

Despite the district’s attempt to appease and, perhaps, silence a vocal and outraged Brannon with a single non-controversial holiday song, he remains committed to ensuring that “teaching and celebrating our traditional holidays” is not erased from the blackboard, silenced in the choir or eliminated from discussion in the classroom. He’s even proposed a revision to the already revised ‘Holiday Policy’ and is hoping district administrators will consider it during a future meeting.

“If this effort to marginalize our values angers you as much as it angers me, help me reverse this trend,” Brannon says. “Contact the MSAD 75 Superintendent of Schools, contact the Principals, contact the school board members. Let them know how you feel about their lack-of-Christmas Holiday Policy and demand that it be changed.”

If you share Brannon’s sentiments — “I’M MAD AS HELL about it and I’m not going to take it anymore” — contact MSAD 75 officials and let them know there’s more than one parent who will not tolerate the systematic eradication of Christmas by big government bureaucrats.

A public high school in Maine has banned ‘dirty dancing’ aka ‘grinding’ to the dismay of hormonally challenged students who are threatening to boycott this weekend’s homecoming dance.

Portland High School senior Felix Cobanovic told the Portland Press Herald that grinding is the “dance style of his generation” while classmate Grace Hanley, a junior, remarked, “Adults see it as a sexual thing, but it’s more of a social thing.”

Some students argue that despite adults’ beliefs that grinding has everything to do with simulating sex and nothing to do with dancing, junior Keelia Ryan admits things can get out of hand, but it’s nothing teenage girls can’t handle on their own, much less anything for their parents to worry about.

“The problem for some girls is when some random guy comes up behind them and starts grinding on them,” Ryan said. “But if you don’t want to dance with a boy, you just move away from him. You have to be assertive.”

Ahmed Ahmed, a senior, agrees with Ryan’s insistence that students should be allowed to handle situations that arise on the dance floor on their own, without adults interfering.

“It’s treating us like we’re children, and some of us are already 18,” Ahmed said. “Girls don’t have to dance with someone they don’t like. They can just say no. I was turned down five times at one dance. I just moved on and danced with a lot of other girls.”

Despite the pleas and threats from students, Principal Mike Johnson said he’s not going to budge on his anti-grinding policy that prohibits boys and girls from grinding their pelvises and crotches to the hottest beats, even if it’s the only way they know how to ‘dance.’

“I have 1,000 parents who love me and 1,000 students who are mad at me,” Johnson said. “They’re upset because they think I’m trying to ruin their dance, but I’m just trying to keep them safe and teach them how to act with responsibility and civility in a public place.”

Whose side are you on? The mean old principal who just doesn’t understand this generation’s groove or the misunderstood teenagers with raging hormones in need of dance lessons?

2010 – Police called; arrest Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault; both expelled, even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board holds meeting to implement bullying prevention programs.

Scenario: Robbie won’t be still in class; disrupts other students.

1957 – Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the principal. Returns to class; sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 – Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD. Robbie’s parents get bi-weekly disability payments and school gets extra funding from government because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 – Billy is more careful next time; grows up normal; goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2010 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy sent to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

FOX News contributor Bill Schulz has a beef with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ever-increasing attempts to tell Big Apple residents how to run their own lives.

“Not content with telling people how to eat, drink or smoke, New York’s ‘Nanny-in-Chief’ is now showing men how to parent in the form of a ‘Daddy Czar'” Schulz said. “Memo to Mike: I don’t need some bureaucrat telling me how to be a good father.”